Art licensing and design company, The London Studio has secured the first licensee for its Art of Drag brand.
Flame Tree Publishing will create a calendar, jigsaw and notebook inspired by the art brand to be distributed globally by Flame Tree and its distributors, including Simon & Schuster for the US.
Art of Drag takes inspiration from famous artworks and cultural female icons which The London Studio then replaces with drag artists. Each original Art of Drag artwork features a beautylicious Drag Queen, created by an award-winning independent art house of LGBTQ+ artists and allies.
The works reimagine and subvert famous artworks and genres, with the reimaginings stretching from street art to the Renaissance and everything in between.
The 2024 calendar launched at Spring Fair this week, and will be followed by the jigsaw and notebook. They will be on sale at independent gift shops, book shops, selected fashion retailers and gallery gift shops from winter 2023.
The range will target a core market of young adults, but The London Studio expects a strong secondary market among teens and tweens, for whom drag is now very much part of mainstream British culture.
“We are so excited to be publishing Art of Drag and working with Soula at The London Studio,” commented Frances Bodiam, md at Flame Tree Publishing. “The artwork is gorgeous and fun and works so well with the rest of our gift and calendars programmes. They will be a truly wonderful source of inspiration for the 2024 calendar, jigsaw and Flame Tree notebook planned for later this year.”
Kirsty Guthrie from KJG who consulted for and managed this deal on behalf of The London Studio, alongside Maggy Harris from BlueSkye Licensing, continued: “I was over the moon when Flame Tree loved the Art of Drag designs I showed them. They immediately saw a fabulous product range in the offing. The ‘va va voom’ art and wonderful products combine perfectly to glam up anyone’s day – and will do just that when they launch later this year.”
Soula Zavacopoulos, founder and director of The London Studio, added: “Flame Tree is very well known for its incredible art licenses and the high quality of its products, so I’m very proud to announce Flame Tree as our first global licensee for Art of Drag. And there’s much more to come from this brand. The potential for Art of Drag-inspired printed products is huge. After all, who wouldn’t want a bit more glam in their daily life?”
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